“Nice place,” Sawyer complimented.
Ford looked over to make sure Sawyer wasn’t just saying it, but he couldn’t really tell in the darkness of the car.
“Well, let’s get in there,” Ford said opening his door. “Before my parents start getting ideas about what’s going on out here,” Ford muttered as he got out of the car.
He walked back to the trunk of his car and opened it to help Sawyer with his stuff, but the man beat him to it and grabbed his large suitcase. Not wanting to feel useless, Ford picked up Sawyer’s briefcase and his garment bag before closing the trunk and walking towards the house, figuring the man would follow.
As he made his way to the steps that led up to the house, he felt Sawyer walking behind him, making him feel a little self-conscious, he couldn’t help but wonder if the man liked what he saw. But again, he wasn’t going to pursue those thoughts.
“So, what was that about your parents getting ideas?” Sawyer asked making Ford halt in his tracks and Sawyer collide with him. He waited for the man to move away from his back, but he didn’t instead he asked again, this time his mouth next to Ford’s ears. “What ideas would they get now if they caught us standing here, your body so close to mine, my mouth hovering at your ear?”
Before Ford could even answer, his mom broke the spell when she opened the front door.
“Ford! Baby, is that you? Did you bring a friend home?” his mother, Barbara Erickson, asked from the doorway.
Ford told his legs to move, ignoring the shiver that had gone up his spine having Sawyer standing behind him, his breath in his ear. “Who else would it be, Mom?” Ford replied sarcastically, climbing up the stairs to give his mom a hug.
“We have friends,” Barbara deadpanned.
“Do you mean dear old Miss Susan?” Ford teased.
“Hey, watch it, mister! I’m older than her,” Barbara replied, swatting him playfully.
Ford leaned in for another hug, and Barbara held him like she always did whenever he came home. He knew some people would find it weird his mom still gave him welcome-home hugs at the ripe old age of twenty-three, but it wasn’t really about him. He knew it made her happy. His dad had once told him it was probably because of the years she’d hoped for a baby and had never had one. She was still making up for it.
So, Ford never complained, and he could admit there were some days he simply needed a hug from his mom too.
Barbara broke the hug quicker than usual today and then asked him again, “Who’s this handsome young man, honey? Introduce me.”
Ford looked behind him, and there he was wearing a wistful smile? Ford couldn’t be sure as he looked at his boss, then back at his mom and decided to rip the Band-Aid off. “Mom, this is Sawyer… Mhmm, well, he’s stuck in Colorado because of the incoming storm he couldn’t go home, so I invited him to stay here.” Before he could even say another word, Barbara rushed over to Sawyer nearly knocking Ford down in the process.
“Oh, you poor dear. I bet your family will miss you for the holidays,” his mother gushed, “but you’re welcome here.” Barbara looked at Ford and then back at Sawyer. “Any friend of Ford’s is welcome here. Not that he ever brings anyone home to meet us. I keep asking him when he’ll bring a nice boy home.”
“Mom,” Ford tried to warn, but instead it came out sounding more like a whine. “He’s my boss.”
“Hmmm,” Mom said, not listening to the words coming out of his mouth. “Come in, come in. Excuse my manners for letting you stand out in the cold all this time. Oh, you’re a handsome one, aren’t you?” Barbara said as she led Sawyer into the house, leaving Ford standing at the door.
Well, this was going well. Ford sighed. He shut the door and locked up, knowing his dad was already home. Ford dropped his keys in the dish with his dad’s and took his shoes off and put on his house slippers. He then followed behind his mother and Sawyer, after saying a prayer for patience.
Ford walked towards the living room near the kitchen assuming that was where his mom would put Sawyer, and he wasn’t wrong. He walked into their main family area and found Sawyer standing in front of the fireplace looking at the pictures there. Sawyer was holding one of them in his hands, and Ford cleared his throat to get his attention. Instead of swiveling around like he’d been caught snooping, the man simply said, “You were a cute kid.”
Ford wasn’t sure what to say to that, so he went with, “Thank you.” He walked up to stand next to Sawyer and looked at the picture he had in his hands, only to see the one of him looking bald as a newborn. Only he wasn’t a newborn, no. He’d been about six years old and had gotten into his mom’s scissors and hacked his hair off so badly, his mom had had no choice but to shave it all off so it would grow back evenly. Unfortunately, it had been a few days before his birthday, so he had a bunch of pictures from when he was six where he was bald, and he’d always thought he didn’t have the head for it.
He snorted. “Yeah, I was totally rocking the bald look.”
Sawyer looked at him like he was imagining Ford without hair, then he said in that whiskey-smooth voice, “I think you’d look good in nothing.” Sawyer smirked. “I mean, with no hair.”
Ford swallowed and could feel the heat in his cheeks and it had nothing to do with the fact that they were standing in front of the fireplace.
Sawyer put the frame back where it had been and stepped over to the college graduation photo. He looked at it, then at Ford. “Well, I can definitely say you’re all grown up in this one.” Ford moved closer to Sawyer and looked at the picture with him. Before he knew what was happening, Sawyer moved closer to him, the frame the only thing separating them. He could honestly say if the frame was a piece of fruit, then it would have been squashed, thanks to their proximity.
“You grew up very good,” Sawyer whispered.
With the fire, and the proximity, and the whispering, Ford felt like he was in some sort of trance. Like if he leaned forward just a little bit he could maybe taste those inviting lips. He imagined what it would feel like with Sawyer’s five o’clock shadow grazing his skin, and he actually couldn’t stop a shiver.
Neither of them said a word, simply breathing in sync, as though if they spoke it would break whatever moment was taking place, but his dad walked into the room and they jumped apart like kids caught with their hands in the cookie jar.
“Oh,” his dad said, a grin spreading across his face. “Don’t let me interrupt.”
Ford backed away from Sawyer and broke eye contact. He breathed in deeply, centering himself as he made his way to his dad. “Don’t be silly, Dad. Sawyer was just looking at the pictures and I was telling him when they were taken,” Ford explained as he walked to his father and gave him a hug.
His dad snorted while holding him and muttered only loud enough for him to hear, “Is that what the kids are calling it these days?”
Ford stepped out of the hug, and whispered his reply too, “I don’t know what you mean.”
“You need to lie better than that to your mom, son.” Dad said walking around Ford with his hand stretched out in a handshake towards Sawyer.
Ford sighed. Yup, it was going to be an interesting few days.
6
Sawyer
Sawyer liked Ford’s mom. He’d spent a long time around people, and he didn't like many people immediately, but he like Ford’s mother Barbara, or Barb, as she’d asked him to call her. He’d seen the way she’d hugged Ford when they were standing at the doorway. From where he was standing, he’d noticed how her body relaxed the moment her son hugged her, and how her eyes lit up when he came up the stairs. Small details, but it was the small details that had gotten him to where he was.
And he could tell this was a woman who loved her child. Sawyer tried to ignore the pang in his chest the scene had made him feel. All he could think about was how much he’d be willing to give for just one more hug from his mom. He’d tried to pretend he wasn’t overcome with emotion, but Barb had felt his body shake a little. He want
ed to pretend it was from the cold, but a mom-hug had a way of throwing your defenses out the window.
She’d led him through the house and into the room he was standing in, giving him a chance to collect himself before Ford walked back in. Sawyer had to admit, he liked seeing Ford here with his family.
He liked Ford, that was the simple truth. From the moment he’d started working with the younger man he’d found him to be smart, organized and whenever he spoke to the workers, respectful and kind. Also, whenever he took Sawyer around to other business owners, they always seemed to welcome Ford with a smile, making Sawyer’s introduction go smoother.
If he was being honest, from the beginning he’d found Ford intriguing. And now well...
Sawyer took in Ford’s dad when he was hugging his son, he could tell that Ford took after his mother more so than his dad. His father was almost the same height as Sawyer, with brown hair that was more white than not now. Intelligent light brown eyes lit his face.
“Douglas Erickson,” Ford’s dad said as he introduced himself with a firm handshake that wasn’t too weak or too tight, but he could tell the man was taking his measure.
“Sawyer Lancaster,” he replied. “Thank you for inviting me into your home.”
“It’s our pleasure,” Douglas replied. “The more the merrier, isn’t that right, son?”
They both looked Ford’s way and he walked to the large corner sofa and took a seat. “Yeah, Dad, the more the merrier.”
Sawyer and Douglas walked over to the sitting area. Douglas moved to take a seat on the corner sofa with Ford, and Sawyer took a seat in one of the armchairs.
“So, Sawyer, what brings you to our little ol’ town?” Douglas asked.
As he was about to reply, Barb bustled in with a tray in her hands, still spry for an older lady. She was likely in her sixties, he assumed. “Some hot chocolate for my guys,” Barb announced.
For some reason, Sawyer felt all warm and fuzzy inside at being lumped in as one of her guys. He glanced up at Barb as she handed the hot chocolate to him and she met his gaze and winked like she knew exactly what he was thinking—that she was including him.
Sawyer was probably reading too much into her hospitality and it was likely no more than a figure of speech, but the warm and fuzzy feelings in his chest expanded and Sawyer felt peace… joy? He wasn’t really sure what to call it, but it was a feeling he hadn’t experienced in almost fifteen years. Since he’d lost his own mom. For the first time in a long time, he didn’t feel like he was on the outside looking in.
He knew he should be feeling bad for missing out on Christmas with his best friend and his godchildren, and as much as he loved the twins and as much as he’d spent a lot of Christmases with Mark and his family, something told him he was where he was supposed to be. His gut had gotten him this far in life, so he wasn’t about to doubt it now.
His usual lead up to Christmas involved him in his apartment on the Upper West Side, all alone. Sawyer never liked going up to Mark’s until Christmas Eve, not wanting to overstay his welcome. Although most people would be pissed to be stranded––and he was sure some were––Sawyer knew he was better off here than alone working while eating a warmed-up dinner for one prepared by the chef service he used.
“So, you were saying?” Ford’s father prompted interrupting Sawyer’s thinking.
“Sir?” Sawyer replied in confusion, thinking he’d missed something.
“Douglas or Doug, son, please,” Douglas corrected. “None of that sir crap here,” Douglas finished on a smile.
“Sorry, Doug,” Sawyer said, and he saw the smile of approval wash over Ford’s dad’s face before he replied.
“What brings you to Colorado, most especially, Amber Falls? We are no Aspen, that’s for sure.”
“But you could be,” Sawyer replied. He was about to go on about the market, how Amber Falls was a prime location, and how the numbers showed the town becoming an even bigger holiday destination if they played their cards right. Currently, they were a small town only found by people who either couldn’t afford the more expensive, more developed ski towns, or by purists looking for a new mountain to ski.
But instead of giving the usual corporate speech he said, “The truth is, my mom found Amber Falls, or maybe I should say we found it together.” Sawyer didn’t miss the way Ford’s eyes bored into him, since it was also the first time he would be hearing the real reason.
“You never told me that,” Ford said in a low voice, but Sawyer heard him. Sawyer met Ford’s gaze and saw the question in his eyes. “I’ve never told anyone that,” Sawyer replied.
“Did you visit here with your mom when you were younger?” Ford inquired, still holding his gaze and Sawyer couldn’t seem to look away.
Sawyer wasn’t sure what it was, maybe it was the roaring fire, or trying to be a good guest–– yeah right, a voice mocked–– but he found himself sharing something he hadn’t even shared with Mark when they’d agreed to invest in the town.
“My mom was a single mom,” Sawyer shared, “and when I was younger it was just the two of us. I have no idea who my dad is. When she got pregnant, her parents, well, they were spitting mad, but she refused to get rid of it… of me... So, she got on a bus and ended up in New York. After I was born, it wasn’t really easy for her. She worked two jobs to keep us fed and a roof over our heads. On Saturdays, she only worked one job, so in the morning we would go somewhere. We liked to go to some of the better neighborhoods as they had nicer parks and stuff we didn’t have where we lived. In one of the neighborhoods, there was a travel agency, and mom and I went in––I have no idea why now, because we never could have afforded to go anywhere––we were looking around even though everything just seemed so expensive and out of our price range. I don’t think we went in looking for a vacation, I think it was more the idea of it than anything else.
Anyway, one of the agents walked up to us and she must have thought we could afford something, or maybe she was just being nice… who knows? She led us to her table, and she asked where we wanted to go. It was 1992 and the Olympics had just ended, both the Summer and Winter Olympics, and for some reason, my mom loved the Winter Olympics so much. I think that was why she told the lady helping us she wanted to go skiing. Anyway, the woman showed us Aspen, Vail, and a few other places we could never afford. She must have noticed my mom get quieter and quieter as she showed us the prices. She was really nice, didn’t get all snooty like some of the places in the neighborhoods we visited did,” Sawyer recalled. “She finally brought out a new brochure and told us there was another town in Colorado. It wasn’t as well known and was way more affordable. The ski place was new, and they had just recently added it to their list. I will never forget, it was an orange brochure with the name Amber Falls on it.” Sawyer smiled, thinking back to that day. “My mom immediately fell in love with the name, and when we looked at the brochure for the town, she thought it was adorable. It was still out of our price range of course, but it was the most affordable of all the Colorado skiing destinations so far. So, my mom said that’s the one. ‘One day I will take my baby to Amber Falls.’”
Sawyer choked up at the memory, but he pulled himself together and finished, “We never made it here, of course, but I promised myself that if I could, one day I would come to Amber Falls. And I did. Now, here I am.”
Sawyer didn’t add that after that day his mom would always say, one day baby, me and you, we’ll make it to Amber Falls. He also didn’t share that he’d come here the year after his mom died, or that some of her ashes were spread on the very land that now belonged to him. That was for him, just for him. But as he looked into Ford’s compassionate eyes, that held no pity for him, he thought if there was anyone in the world he would share it with, it might just be the blond-haired, blue-eyed cutie staring at him with his heart in his eyes.
Before Ford or Douglas could think of something to say, they were all saved from any possible awkwardness when Barb announced from the doorway, “D
inner’s ready.”
Sawyer swiveled around and found Barb standing at the arched entrance to the room they were in, a tea towel in her hands. He couldn’t help but wonder how long she’d been standing there and how much she’d heard. Doug immediately stood at his wife’s announcement and made his way to her, but not before squeezing Sawyer’s shoulder as he passed.
Ford also stood but waited for his parents to move away to the dining table he assumed, before he walked up to Sawyer, who had also gotten out of his seat. “I had no idea,” Ford whispered, standing right in front of him, only about an inch of space between them.
“Why would you?” Sawyer replied. “I never mentioned anything about it,” he added, taking a step closer to Ford and closing the small distance between them. They weren’t touching but they were right up in each other’s space staring into each other’s eyes. Sawyer didn’t do this, whatever this was, but he couldn’t seem to look away either.
“We should go to dinner,” Sawyer whispered.
“Yes,” Ford breathed.
But neither of them moved until Douglas called, “Boys, are you joining us?” breaking the spell.
They stepped back from each other, breathing heavily even though nothing had happened between them. Sawyer couldn’t say how much time had passed, but he felt like Ford had looked inside his soul. And all he could think was, he hoped like hell he’d liked what he’d seen.
He also knew some of the butterflies in his stomach were from the way Doug and Barb kept lumping him and Ford together. They kept saying “boys” and “son” like he was part of the family. He wasn’t about to admit it, but his heart was screaming yes.
As long as they realized he wasn’t feeling brotherly towards Ford. His cock had spoken.
7
Stranded With His Boss Page 3
